Pirates holding a UAE-owned tanker off the Somali coast have exchanged gunfire with local authorities, it is claimed.
The 1,800-dwt Aris 13 (built 1991) was confirmed on Tuesday to have been the first merchant vessel hijacked off the coast of Somali since 2012.
According to Hussein Mohamed, a freelance journalist associated with the New York Times, some of the security forces involved in the incident have been injured.
Pirates holding the Aris 13 have made a ransom demand but it is not yet clear how much they are asking for to release the vessel.
Experts say they are watching to see how officials in Sri Lanka, home to the majority of the vessel’s crew, and in the UAE, where owner Flair Shipping is based, will respond to the hijacking.
The ship is one of three in the modest fleet of Flair, alongside a slightly larger chemical tanker and a single tug.
Its low freeboard made the Aris 13 particularly vulnerable in Somali waters, where experts have repeatedly warned of the risk of piracy despite the long period since the last successful hijacking.
